Stop A Bad Habit

Have you ever tried to stop a bad habit? I’ve recently tried to stop sitting with my legs crossed. It’s not easy! I never realized how often I do it until I tried to quit doing it. It’s not good for my lower back, or for the spider veins that want to develop in my right leg.

What I have to do every time I cross my legs is to uncross them, and remind myself- “You’re not doing that anymore, remember? Do you want your back to flare up?” And then I sit a different way. This happens so many times every day that I annoy myself.

I find it is much the same with any bad habit, or sin. We have to be willing to stop what we’re doing, and have an actual reason for not doing it anymore.

If we just think of sin is a bad habit, our reason for stopping may be as simple as worrying what people will think of us if it is revealed. That would be similar to the spider vein problem in my leg. It’s a surface issue that people won’t see unless I show them, but it isn’t really a long-term motivator to stop crossing my legs. It’s virtually invisible to anyone but me.

However, if we see sin as an offense to God, and something that prevents our communion with Him, that ought to be a reason to stop. I know how the pain in my back feels when it flares up. It is awful, and can last for several days, making simple things so much harder, and prevent me from sleeping well. I know that crossing my legs contributes to that pain. It’s a good motivator to stop doing it!

Just like sin. I know the feeling of how on-going sin makes things that should be simple, difficult. And the results of that lasts until I make it right with God. I don’t like the feeling of being separated from Him. I don’t want things to be hard because I am stubborn and can’t admit I am wrong and need His help. That separation is a good motivator for getting right with God!

Romans 6:11-13
(11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
(13) Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.